Submitting declaration to Pearson
JCQ General Regulations for Approved Centres (section 5.3i) states that centres must manage conflict of interests by:
Conflicts of Interest
i)manages conflicts of interest by informing the awarding bodies, before the published deadline for entries for each examination series, of:
any members of centre staff who are taking qualifications at their own centre which include internally assessed components/units;
any members of centre staff who are teaching and preparing members of their family (which includes step-family, foster family and similar close relationships) or close friends and their immediate family (e.g., son/daughter) for qualifications which include internally assessed components/units;
Please note that you are not required to submit a declaration of interest if the qualification DOES NOT include internally assessed components or units.
You may also wish to review JCQ Instructions for conducting coursework. Section 8.2 states:
8.2 Centres must make every effort to avoid situations where a candidate is assessed by a person who has a close personal relationship with the candidate, for example, members of their family (which includes step-family, foster family and similar close relationships) or close friends and their immediate family (e.g. son/daughter).
Where this cannot be avoided, the centre must declare the possible conflict of interest to the relevant awarding body and submit the marked work for moderation whether or not it is part of the moderation sample. Further details are given in section 5 of the JCQ publication General Regulations for Approved Centres. This publication is available in an interactive format within the Centre Admin Portal (CAP). The Centre Admin Portal can be accessed via any of the awarding bodies’ secure extranet sites.
You can submit declarations to us by completing the form here.
Keeping internal records of potential conflicts
Section 5.3i of the JCQ General Regulations for Approved centres goes on to state that centres must:
maintains clear records of all instances where:
exams office staff have members of their family (which includes step-family, foster family and similar close relationships) or close friends and their immediate family (e.g., son/daughter) being entered for examinations and assessments either at the centre itself or other centres;
centre staff are taking qualifications at their own centre which do not include internally assessed components/units;
centre staff are taking qualifications at other centres.
The head of centre must ensure that the records include details of the measures taken to mitigate any potential risk to the integrity of the qualifications affected. The records may be inspected by a JCQ Centre Inspector and/or awarding body staff. They might be requested in the event of concerns being reported to an awarding body. The records must be retained until the deadline for reviews of marking has passed or until any appeal, malpractice or other results enquiry has been completed, whichever is later.
If you have any queries regarding the Declarations of Interest process, please contact us at: conflictofinterest@pearson.com
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